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Fred

Happy Saturday! Here's a quilted petticoat dating from around 1760-80, sewn by Mary Preston. Nothing is yet known about her, but research is underway!

It's made of silk, wool and linen, and is terrifying to handle because the silk is gently shattering throughout. Happily, the linen lining is super robust and is keeping everything together.

Photograph of an aqua blue quilted silk petticoat laid out flat on a large table covered with Tyvek, a white archive-grade plastic. The petticoat has acid-free tissue sausages to prevent the sides creasing. The quilting takes the form of stylised pomegranates and curling leaves in a repeating pattern as wide as the width of each panel. The skirt is made of 5 or 6 panels (to my shame I didn't count them) each made of the full width of the silk, from selvage to selvage. This is standard for the time. Silk was woven narrow, and skirts needed to be wide. Object number: YORCM : 1945.210. Image copyright York Museums Trust (York Castle Museum)
Photograph of the inside of the same petticoat, showing the medium-weight coarse linen layer, which provides weight and support to the skirt. The back of the quilting can be seen, making a bobbly pattern over the surface of the linen. The linen is in great condition, which is great because the silk is not. Image copyright York Museums Trust (York Castle Museum)
Close-up photograph of the lower left portion of the skirt, as laid on the table, showing one of the pomegranates with its surrounding bunches of leaves. This also shows the hem, which has a border with a chevron design. The quilting is worked as normal in tiny running stitches. Also to be spotted are areas where the silk has shattered, as silk is wont to do. These reveal the wool interlining. This would have been super toasty to wear. Image copyright York Museums Trust (York Castle Museum)
Close up photograph of the waist of the petticoat. This shows that the silk near the waist hasn't been quilted, which is totally normal, as well as showing the inside and outside of the lovely big chunky pleats that bring all that fabric together into the waistband. The waist is bound with a lighter silk, which may just be the same aqua that's faded - this skirt has plenty of areas where the dye hasn't stuck around. The skirt can't fasten. If anyone has a spare £3000 for the conservation of this gorgeous beast, hit me up. Textile conservation is asspensive as fuck, because it's so incredibly highly skilled and time consuming. Worth it though. Image copyright York Museums Trust (York Castle Museum)
#HistoricalCostume#HistoricalTextiles#Quilting
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